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In the blink of an eye, three more days had passed since the earthquake.
That night, a familiar yet unfamiliar figure quietly slipped into the academy.
It was none other than Mystique, Raven.
Travel-worn and weary, she found Charles and brought bad news that was enough to shake the entire Mutant World: Magneto Erik's hidden identity had been exposed, and his wife and daughter had been brutally shot and killed with wooden arrows by ignorant human Police.
Now, Eric was completely consumed by despair and madness, standing on the brink of going berserk and destroying the World.
"Charles, I'm begging you! You're the only one who can convince him to come back now!" Raven's tone was extremely anxious, her eyes red.
Professor X didn't hesitate at all and immediately agreed to Mystique's request.
The group then appeared in the Cerebro chamber once again, the atmosphere so heavy it felt as if it could condense into water.
When Charles put on the helmet again, expanding his telepathic power globally in an attempt to find Magneto's trace in the vast crowd of people,
He succeeded!
But just as he successfully locked onto Eric, a sudden change occurred!
Because he saw that next to Eric, there were four other figures standing.
The person in the center of those four figures—was the very god-like being he had sensed in Jean's nightmare a few days ago!
Realizing something was wrong, Professor X immediately tried to sever the connection.
But it was already too late!
Before he could make a move, the blue-gray-skinned freak had already looked up, flashing a sinister smile at him across the vast void.
In the next second, a grand will, ten million times more terrifying than Jean's nightmare, descended with a devastating aura of destruction along Charles's mental link!
"I feel you... my child... such a powerful fellow Mutant!"
An ancient, hoarse, decaying voice that seemed to originate from the yellow sands and deep inside the pyramids thousands of years ago exploded in Charles's mind like a great bell!
It was Apocalypse!
This progenitor of the Mutants, who had lived for thousands of years, actually reverse-locked the Professor's location through the global telepathic network established by Professor X!
"Ah!!!"
The moment the Professor's mind was invaded, he couldn't help but let out an extremely shrill scream.
His body began to twitch violently in his wheelchair uncontrollably, his eyes rolled back, and bright red blood seeped from the corners of his eyes, nostrils, and even his ears at the same time!
The equipment in the Cerebro chamber, unable to withstand this terrifying power, flashed blindingly with dangerous red lights, emitting sharp and piercing alarms.
"Professor!"
Professor X's reaction at this moment terrified everyone else on the scene:
"Quick! Cut the connection! Pull the plug!"
Hank and Raven completely panicked. They scrambled to shut down the equipment, only to discover in despair that all physical controls had failed, and the entire cerebro seemed to have been endowed with an independent, evil life.
"Let me do it!"
Impact Alex's eyes were blood-red; he could never stand by and watch the Professor be tortured to death like this.
In order to let the Professor, who served as the bridge of communication between humans and Mutants, survive, he would rather sacrifice himself!
With a roar, his hands instantly lit up with a blinding, high-energy glow, aiming at cerebro's core device.
Just as he was preparing to destroy it completely, even if it meant his own death,
A fair and slender hand lightly chopped down on Alex's neck.
Impact Alex didn't even have time to make a sound before his eyes rolled back and he passed out.
The energy in his hands, which was powerful enough to blow up an entire building, instantly dissipated as well.
"Damn it! What are you doing!"
The clueless Mystique was almost driven mad with anger:
"Are you trying to get us all killed!"
Hearing this, Peter glanced at her with some annoyance:
"Are you, little Smurf?"
"What do you mean?" Mystique couldn't help but ask.
"So many murals!"
In the next second, everyone felt their vision blur.
Following that, they saw Peter's figure traverse space, appearing directly behind the violently twitching Charles.
Without any extra movements, he simply placed a hand casually, almost mindlessly, on the back of Charles's head.
Buzz~!
The power of the Horse Talisman took effect on the Professor.
Wherever the soft white light passed, that terrifying will, which was frantically battering Charles's mental World like a World-destroying tsunami, was suddenly grabbed by the throat by an invisible steel hand like a barking rabid dog,
Without even a shred of room to resist, it instantly vanished into thin air!
Apocalypse, who had tried to trace the connection to physically confront Professor X, was kicked right back by the noble horse!
The piercing alarm in the Cerebro chamber came to an abrupt halt, and the flashing red light returned to a calm, deep blue.
Everything quieted down, as if the apocalyptic scene from just now was merely an illusion.
Hank, Raven, and Alex widened their eyes, their jaws nearly dropping to the floor as they stared at Peter like he was a monster.
As if waking from a nightmare, Professor X suddenly stood up from his wheelchair. He gasped heavily, his face still filled with the extreme terror of surviving a disaster, his eyes unfocused.
"No... no... we must destroy cerebro immediately! He knows our location! He is too terrifying, he will come! We are no match for him at all! We will all die..."
Charles's voice was incoherent. He had clearly been utterly terrified by Apocalypse's ancient pressure, falling into deep self-doubt and despair.
Slap!
Just then, an extremely crisp, loud slap suddenly echoed in the dead silent Cerebro chamber.
Everyone looked up and saw that it was Peter who had raised his hand and given Professor X a hard slap.
Peter withdrew his right hand and looked at Charles, who had been spun around twice in place by the slap. His tone carried an unquestionable authority:
"Now, is your mind a bit clearer?"
Charles clutched his burning, swollen cheek, staring blankly at Peter, and nodded subconsciously.
Only then did he suddenly realize, due to the change in his eye level:
"Wait! That's not right!"
He suddenly looked down at his standing legs and the bullet casing lying on the floor—the very one that had paralyzed his legs. For a moment, he didn't know whether to cry or laugh:
"I... I actually..."
"Well~ consider it a small reward for being so obedient before."
Peter rubbed his nose a bit unnaturally as he spoke.
Actually, he hadn't planned on directly healing Professor X's legs... well, to be precise, because he remembered the Professor always being in a wheelchair in the movies, he had almost forgotten that the Professor's paralysis could also be healed by his Horse Talisman.
"In short, from now on, put your heart back in your chest and just sit back and watch me handle this!"
As he spoke, Peter casually stretched his body, his bones letting out a series of crisp, popping sounds like crackling beans.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze seemingly piercing through the thick layers of the earth, looking toward far-off Cairo, Egypt:
"Dealing with this kind of old relic who just crawled out of the dirt, if I can't take him down within ten moves, you can count it as my loss!"